VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Newton is dialed in after USO tour

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 | 10:36 a.m.

Wayne Newton is quite an operator.

Seems he spent most of the last few weeks calling relatives of U.S. military personnel he met while on his most recent USO tour through Kuwait.

"With all those kids do for you and me, I thought it was the least I could do for them," Newton told VegasBeat when we saw him at the Stardust's 45th anniversary party last week.

Newton returned from the tour June 20.

After the most recent shows -- which featured everyone from Kid Rock to Gary Sinise to Chris Isaak to John and Rebecca-Romijn Stamos -- Newton would sit at a table and ask soldiers if there was anyone he could call for them when he returned to the states. At that time Newton would get the phone numbers.

Among those most impressed with Newton was Isaak, who watched Newton make calls for eight straight hours one day.

"Can you imagine? That must have been a strange phone call: 'Hi, I'm Wayne Newton. Your son is doing fine. Danke Schoen!'

"Wayne could just sit in a mansion, but instead he's flying around in military helicopters," Isaak told The Boston Globe.

Isaak also told the Globe he is looking forward to his tour with Lisa Marie Presley, which started Friday.

"I'd love it if we could perform something together. I don't see any reason to keep a curtain between us. And from what I've heard she is a nice person."

Presley has a solo date at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay in September.

Cool news

It certainly seemed cooler Sunday night when Jerry Brown, the weekend weatherman on KVVU Channel 5, delivered his forecast.

That's because Brown offered the temperatures in Celsius.

For our fellow math-challenged readers, Celsius temps are calculated by taking the Farenheit number, subtracting 32 and multiplying by five-ninths. So if it is 100 degrees Farenheit, it is only about 37 degrees Celsius.

"I was just trying to make this desert heat a little more palatable to the populace," Brown told VegasBeat on Monday.

Bush backer

Former "Saturday Night Live" and "Monday Night Football" ranter Dennis Miller is perhaps an acquired taste, both politically and comically. He recently appeared at a fund-raiser for President Bush in Los Angeles and traveled on Air Force One to get there.

When Miller was performing at Paris Las Vegas over the weekend, he trotted out some of his new material.

"In California, they are changing the name of the San Andreas Fault to Gray Davis' Fault," Miller quipped to uproarious laughter, referencing the Golden State's budget mess.

Another Miller gem: "Have you seen the nine Democrats who are trying to get the nomination? I haven't seen a lineup that pitiful since the 1962 New York Mets."

And Miller is famous for taking shots at former President Bill Clinton: "If Clinton was any more low rent, he'd be a spring break destination."

Honk, honk

In other politically active entertainer news, Toby Keith announced Monday he'll play the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Aug. 29.

The concert is part of what he has termed the "Shock'n Y'all Tour." Get it?

Blake Shelton and Junior Brown -- not the Dixie Chicks -- will be Keith's opening act. Tickets go on sale Saturday.

Stand up

The NBC reality show, "Last Comic Standing," hosted by Jay Mohr, is returning to Paris Las Vegas to tape its last two episodes of the season -- and the public is invited.

On July 23 five comics will square off. They compete again on Aug. 5.

Free tickets are available starting Wednesday at the hotel box office, limit four per person.

The first taping airs at 9 p.m. July 29; details and dates for the August taping are expected to be announced shortly.

Eeewwww ...

Two of the young lovelies in "Midnight Fantasy" at Luxor were in different roles Saturday night.

Jennifer Young and Jennifer Lynn, dressed in full Egyptian garb, helped unleash about 15,000 Madagascar hissing cockroaches Sunday night for some "Fear Factor" contestants to wallow in.

The creepy stunt will be aired in the fall on the popular gross-out show, which is doing stunts all week at Luxor and Mandalay Bay.

VegasBits

Bikers: Evel Knievel, Elvis, Marilyn, Rolling Stones impersonators and a big fireworks display are on tap for tonight's party for 6,000 worldwide Harley-Davidson dealers and distributors at the famed company's gigantic South Eastern Avenue store ...

Tunes: N9NE (Palms) Chef Brian Massie has added a DJ to his weekend menu. More than 600 diners -- including rocker Tommy Lee -- jammed his restaurant Saturday night and seemed to love the new addition ...

Mime: Producer Jaki Baskow is representing the famed comedy-mime duo of (Robert) Shields and (Lorene) Yarnell, and shopping them around town. Shields had taken a sabbatical from entertaining to become, among other things, a QVC jewelry pitchman ...

Mingle: Every member of the cast of the Excalibur male revue, "Thunder From Down Under," was at the pool party Saturday night at Treasure Island to check out the new "Sirens of TI" women ...

Restaurant row: Pierro Selvaggio and his partner, Chef Luciano Pellegrini, say Oct. 7 is the planned opening day of their restaurant, Caffe Giorgio, and weekend Farmer's Market in the new shopping mall linking Mandalay Bay and Luxor. Also, celebrity New York restaurateur Stephen Hanson will be in Vegas next week making final preparations for his new Fiamma Trattoria at MGM Grand ...

Hometown hero: Henderson's Serena Henry, 20, a former backup singer for Gladys Knight and a product of the John Robert Powers acting school, has made the final cut on the NBC show, "Fame." The last segments of the talent show, based on the old movie, air the next two Wednesday nights on KVBC Channel 3 at 8 p.m. Watch the show and call the on-screen number to vote for Henry.

From Sun wires

Jerry Springer, the talk show host whose nationally syndicated program often spotlighted strippers and skinheads, officially filed papers on Monday to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio.

Springer, 59, the former mayor of Cincinnati, will make a final decision on whether to run for the Democratic nomination by the end of the month. State Sen. Eric Fingerhut has already announced his candidacy for the party's nod and the right to challenge first-term Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who served as governor of Ohio from 1991-99.